Mal Woolford has managed to get double benefit from ScreenSkills’ Make a Move programme. The initiative is designed to encourage the on-the-job training of crew members identified by the production as ready to move up into a more senior role and not only has Mal been mentored in his transition to post-production supervisor, but he’s also been mentoring a post-production coordinator too.
Mal has a long history in post-production, including many years at the BBC covering a variety of genres in television, and working at post facilities. His credits include Code 404, Nightmare on Everest and This Country. So he has the experience and skills under his belt, but his recent move into freelance post supervision was still a big one.
This is where the ScreenSkills Make a Move programme proved to be a hugely valuable support system. Mal had already worked at a post facility on series one of the comedy-drama Back to Life, produced by Two Brothers for Channel 4 and Showtime, and so was keen to work on the second season, but this time as a freelance post supervisor.
“I knew about ScreenSkills and that I could potentially be eligible for Make a Move, so I spoke with the producers to see if they’d like to get involved with the scheme,” explains Mal. “Fortunately, I was successful and had a very supportive producer, Catherine Gosling Fuller, who took it very seriously. We diarized time to go through a training plan and work closely together in every aspect of post, alongside post supervisor Portia Napier.”
Mal was able to utilise Catherine, Portia and the Make a Move programme to cross check his skills, look for any gaps, backfill any skills that weren’t quite right and get to grips with the required production conversations.
“I got to understand the etiquette and value of the production process, what’s important, what I need to know and what the producers need from me, how I can support them better,” says Mal. “This included adapting my language to explain things better to producers.”
He also got more involved in all aspects of the supervision work on Back to Life, including running the budget, which he hadn’t done before, and negotiating the deliverables. “Previously I’d just execute them, but now I’d be asking, ‘is that what you really want? Why don’t we do this instead and save a bit of money?’ Simplifying the process and exercising a bit of control,” Mal says.
This extended to schedule layouts too. “Catherine showed me her one and what she wanted. Then I went away, worked on it, and actually created a customised producer scheduling application, which was done to a fine, granular degree and can be adapted for other productions. I did the same thing with the cost reporting as well, creating a narrative, which the production accounts team were happy with.”
The Make a Move mentoring process lasted for six months, throughout the duration of the second series of Back to Life. Mal then moved on to the Netflix series One Day, based on David Nicholl’s best-selling book. But his work with Make a Move continued, albeit this time as the mentor himself for post coordinator, Ricardo Beckles-Burrowes who was previously a production coordinator.
“This is going to be a long job, 15 months in total, which is great because it gives me enough time to help Ricardo with every aspect of post and do some training,” enthuses Mal. “He is basically my left hand. We’ve got a screen between us, so I can show him what we’re doing. The other benefit of the Netflix show is there’s enough funding that we have time together. Normally what happens is post coordinators are expected to just have the skills, parachute in, do the work and then parachute out again. Fortunately, I can show him the day-to-day and give him a 360 degree perspective of what’s needed.”
Mal’s impressive work as a post supervisor has already garnered him an award, recently picking up Broadcast’s Post Supervisor of the Year prize. This was thanks to his efforts building an inclusive post production environment and the aforementioned scheduling system. “I’ve been looking at ways we can work more sustainably, spreading the workload, while still giving the productions what they need.”
He's putting this into practice by having an additional post supervisor help him on another Two Brothers project called Entitled, which will come out on Channel 4 and Showtime.
Mal is also still in contact with ScreenSkills’ HETV team to suggest other people who might want to be considered for Make a Move. “It’s such a brilliant initiative that helps people in the industry get a step up, but also a fresh perspective. Long may it continue,” he concludes.
Find out more about Make a Move
Contact the ScreenSkills team